Dec 2, 2011

#BDS: Time for outrage against academic support for Israel

"The EU is not only refusing to take action against Israel, it is busily conniving in Israel's crimes.

Persistent campaigning by the Palestine solidarity movement has turned Veolia into something of a toxic brand. From Manchester to Melbourne, local authorities have been quizzed about their dealings with the French corporate giant because of its role in constructing a light rail system for illegal Israeli settlements in Jerusalem.

The controversy has affected Veolia's bottom line, resulting in the loss of contracts worth €10 billion (£8.6 billion) over the past six years. So it recently turned to the Brussels bureaucracy for moral - or, perhaps more accurately, immoral - support.

On 31 October, Antonio Tajani, vice-president of the European Commission, opened the "Go4 Europe" business conference in Tel Aviv. On promotional material that Tajani and his aides almost certainly read, Veolia was listed as one of the event's four "platinum sponsors". As Tajani used the occasion to laud Israel's "business-friendly environment" (his words), he gave his tacit blessing to companies such as Veolia that have seized the opportunities presented by an apartheid state."